Process for making briquettes



Aug. 9, 1932. R. E. wlLLARD n 1,871,104

PROCESS FOR MAKING BRIQUETTES Filed April 28, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 DRYGOAL BIN CEUSHEZ RAW CQAL Bl N Allg 9, 1932 RE. WILLARD 1,871,104

PRoEss Eon MAKIN BRIiQUETTEs Fild April 28; -1930 `2 sheets-sheet 2Patented Aug. 9, 1932-l UNITED STATES ROBERT E. w'ILLARD, orMINNEAEOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASsIeNOR, RY imams AssIdN- nENIrs, |ro BRIQUETENGINEERING COMPANY, or IuNNEAroLIs, ImINEso'rA, A

GORPORATION or DELAWARE -rRooEss EOR MAKING ERIOUETTES Application meaApril' es, Isso. semi No. 447,926.

My invention provides an improved rocess for the making of briquettes'an generally stated, consists of the novel manipulations and successivesteps of manipulations hereinafter described and defined in the claim.

The nature of the rocess will be made clear in the discription o the useof the improved lapparatus for carrying out the said process and apreferred form of which apparatus is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings,

wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a complete briquetting plantor system;

Fig. 2 is a view lpartly in elevationand partly in vertical sectionillustrating that portion of the plant that involves the im.- provedprocess;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken. on the line 3-3 ,of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical Section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the preheatlng mixer shown in horizontalsection in Fig. 3,

and in transverse section in Fig.l 4;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken through the conditioning mixer onthe line 6-'-6 of Fig. 2 and showing lalso a fan with connectiois forexhausting gases from said mixer; an

Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical section taken on theline7-7 of Fig. 2through the binder Sprayer.

Referring first tothe diagram view Fig. 1

and briefly noting the order of the severaloperations in the making ofbriquettes by the apparatus illustrated but without discussing in detailany of said actions, the `complete system illustrated comprises asfollows: The raw coal is introduced into a raw .coal bin -8, from thenceit is delivered through a drier 9, from thence is elevated to a dry coalbin 10, from thence is delivered to a Crusher 11, thence by elevator 12is delivered to ground coal bin 13, from thence is deliveredthrough a.preheating mixer 14, from thence through a binder sprayer 15, fromthence through a luxer 16, from thence through a conditioning mixer 17from thence briiluette press 184 f and from thence onto a cooling table19.

The above noted elements 8 to 13, inclusive, and 18 and 19 are standardwell known construction such as hitherto employed in'briquette `plantsand the novelty of the apparatus here claimed is found in the elements1ocated between the said above noted elements 13 Cand 18 andthesepartswill now be `descrlbed more in detail. w

The coal delivered into the ground coal bin 13 will besuitablyground forthe-forming of brlquettes, will be dry and quite hot, sa g; a.temperature of about 175 degrees rom .the bin13,l this ground briquettematerial will be fed into one end of the preheating m1xer1 4 under theaction of a power-driven Y measuring device such as used for feeding ofgrain and vcomprising a rotar paddleequ1pped head 20, the shaft of whicprojects and is provided with a gear 2L The preheating mixer 14 is anapproximately horizontal tubular Steam-j acketed shell, the steamchamber 22 of which receives live Steam through supply pipe 23, shown inFig. 2. Steam jets 24 that receive super-heated steam from supply pipe25open at several different points into the interior of the preheatingmixer 14, as also best shown inlF'ig. 2. f' Extended longitudinallythrough said prevheater casing 14 is a `pair of parallel shafts.v

projecting spirallyv arranged mixerl blades 30 that are obliqucly set inthe saine direction so that while mlxing the material, they propel thesame longitudinally of the shell and discharge thesame through a spout31 at the discharge end of said shell.

- Itis here important to `note that the Shell of the preheatmgl mixer`14is air-tight so that when the interior thereofis charged withsuper-heated steam, the coal'will be` i thoroughl agitated'in Ian inertatmosphere to a muchhigher temperature but at any rate, to a temperatureclose to the temperature where volatilization begms and at a temperatureat-which oxidation of the coal details will be found by would take placein the presence of atmosphere ycontaining oxygen, and this, in theapparatus described, can be `done without danger of oxidation orcombustion of the coal. At this high temperaturethe coal w1ll moreintimately unite with a binder, but the mixing of the binder therewithshould also take place in an inert atmosphere or 1n an atmosphere inwhich oxygen is not present. Hence the hot coal from the preheatingmlxer is next delivered to and through the binder mixer 15.

This binder mixer is of a novel construction fully disclosed and claimedin a companion application, Serial No. 447,925, filed of even dateherewith and is illustrated more `in detail in Fig. 7. However, for thepurposes of this case the said binder sprayer may be quite brieflydescribed and further reference to the said companion application.

Within the shell of the binder sprayer is a. plurality of annularconical deectors 32 and extended axially through said sprayer is ahollow shaft 33 plugged at 34 and pro. vided with impeller heads 35. Thebinder material will usually be asphalt or an asphalt compound feddownward through the upper portion of shaft 32 and from thence outwardthrough discharge ducts or passages 36 formed in the lfpper head 35. Thedeiecting cones 32 are preferably hollow and supplied with live steamthrough a pipe 37 that is connected to the steampipe 23.. Steam jets 38are connected to theY super-heated steampipe 25 and are positioned todischarge into the upper portion of the binder sprayer obliquelydownward in the direction of rotation of the shaft 32 so that thebriquette material delivered into the upper end of said sprayer will begiven a whirling motion. The ground coalr or briquette material droppingfrom the first deflector onto the upper rotating impeller head 35 willbe thrown outward against the oblique under surfaceof the upperdefiector and will be thoroughly commingled with the spray of binderdelivered from the ducts 36 of said upper head.

The supply of binder is preferably delivered only from the upper headbut the successive deflecting' and mixing actions will be' ref peated asthe material passes downward from the second deector to the secondimpeller head and fromV the third deilector to lthe third or lowermostimpeller head so that the coal and binder willbe very thoroughly mixedwhen it reaches the botttom of said sprayer and is delivered into thereceiving end of the uxer 16. 1

The uxer 16 is substantially a repetition or duplication of thepreheating mixer, that F ply pipe 25. By the time the briquette ma-`terial reaches the delivery end of the luxer 16, its temperature will bereduced probably down to about 350 degrees F. and it will be deliveredfrom the iuxer into the conditioning mixer through discharge conduit 43at about that temperature.

A chemical action is started in the binder sprayer which issubstantially as follows: The highly heated coal, coming from thepreheating mixer at a` high temperature (400) comes into 'contact withthe binder at 175. The action of the sulphur in solution in the asphaltis vretarded in the binder mixing tanks as much as possible, by usingonly a temperature in the mixing tanks 15 in excess of the melting pointof the asphalt, so that the resulting solution is only Huid enough tohandle through the binder pumps.

When the binder comes in contact with the coal, which is at a lmuchhigher temperature (400) the temperature of the binder is immediatelyraised to the high temperature of the coal. This high temperaturehastens the desired chemical reaction in both coal and binder, calledpolymerization, where the hydrogen in the bituvmens in both coal andbinder unite with sulphur in solution in the binder, forming hydrogensulphide (H25) which passes olf and is Wasted.

This polymerization eliminates some of the hydrogen from the hydrocarbonmolecules, thereby enriching the hydrocarbons in carbon, and themolecules become rearranged into molecules 'of higher molecular weight.

The abovev described action continues throughout the fluxer and hencethe importance of keeping up and a continuing the mixing and agitationoperation at a high temperature for a considerable period of time vafter the material leaves the sprayer. The

so-called fluxer performs this function.

The function of the so-call'ed conditioning no mixer 17 is to reduce thetemperature of the briquette material to such temperature that it can beproperly formed into briquettes and it is important that while thiscooling operation takes place, that the agitation and mixing,r of thematerial is continued. The shell of this conditioning mixer is ofsubstantially the same form as preheating mixer except that it is notsteam jacketed. It has the same parallel shafts 44 driven in the samedirections and provided with oblique mixing blades 45 that mix thematerial and progressively force the same toward the delivery end of themixer from whence it is delivered through a discharge passage 46 to anordinary briquette machine indicated as an entiret-y by the numeral 47.To cool the briquette material while it is passing through theconditioning mixer, Water jets 48 are provided and these are connectedto a water supply pipe 49. To draw oit the gases and vapors formedwithin the conditioning mixer 17, it is showmas provided with adischarge pipe 50 connected to a blower 51; and in practice the othermixing devices may be likewise connected to a discharge fan for carryingoff the gases and vapors.

The jets 48, as indicated, may be connected either to a water supply orto a source of saturated steam and hence it will be understood thatbroadly the one is the equivalent of the other, although the water Willhave the greater cooling effect. Saturated steam, however, is of muchlower temperature than the material introduced into the conditioningmixer and hence would also have, to a less extent, a cooling action.

The bindin fluid may be contained in any suitable supp y tank orreceptacle, such as an elevated tank 52 that delivers to a pump 53. Thispump 53 may be of any suitable well known rotary measuring type such asa rotary gear pump that is connected to deliver the binder and materialin measured quantity to the upper end of the hollow rotary shaft 32. Theshaft 54 of the rotor of this pump 53 is connected by gears 55 and 56 toa transverse shaft 57, and the other end of this shaft 57 is connectedby a spur pinion 58 and the hitherto noted gear 21 to the rotarypaddleequipped head 20 of the measuring coaleeding device. From this itfollows that the coal or briquette material and the binding materialwill be supplied to the apparatus in denite proportionate quantities.This proportionate quantity may, of course, be varied by changing thegears and 56 or the gears 2l and 58. As shown, shaft 57 is driven from asmall electric motor 59 through a chain or link belt 60 and co-operatingsprockets.

What I claim is:

The process of making briquettes which includcs heating the groundbriquette material approximately to the temperature of its incipientdistillation by the application of

